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500 Yuan Year of the Monkey
| Issuer | People's Republic of China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1992 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Central depiction of the Wangwang Tower (威王阁), a multi-tiered traditional Chinese pagoda rendered in fine relief, flanked by symmetrical pavilion structures and decorative balustrades. Birds in flight appear in the upper field. The legend 中华人民共和国 (People's Republic of China) arcs along the upper periphery in Chinese characters. The inscription 威王阁 appears below the tower, and the year of issue 1992 is inscribed in the lower field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A naturalistically rendered golden monkey is depicted seated on a rocky outcropping, holding a peach in its right hand, with ginkgo branches bearing leaves visible to the upper left. The denomination 500元 appears in the upper right field, with the Chinese character 金 (gold) below it. A small cartouche to the lower left contains the inscription 壬申年 indicating the cyclical year designation for the Year of the Monkey. |
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| Additional information |
The 1992 Chinese Lunar Gold series was produced by the People's Bank of China at a moment when the country's bullion coin program — launched just over a decade earlier with the Gold Panda — was still establishing its international footing. The 5 oz lunar issues were struck in comparatively small numbers and distributed primarily through foreign dealers and Hong Kong intermediaries rather than domestic retail channels.
KM#434 is among the scarcer weights in the 1992 monkey set. The monkey cycle carries particular weight in Chinese numismatic demand given the zodiac's cultural significance, and first-cycle issues from the 1980s and early 1990s consistently attract premium attention on the secondary market over later repetitions.